3:28 pm
Simon
Want to start up shop but not got the spark? Have a burning idea but no desire to bring it about? These idea databases are places where your ideas can be submitted, blasted, lauded and cribbed. Ideas (or is that memes?) want to be free!
And just in case you think this is all talk no trousers, here is a 'graduate' of halfbakery:
4:53 pm
Simon
2:01 pm
Simon
What a lot of me's.
5:10 pm
Simon
Not everyone knows that Disneyland is dry- they don't serve alcohol. Well, almost dry; Club 33 is an almost invisible doorway near the Pirates of the Caribbean ride which leads to an exclusive member's club.
2:38 pm
Simon
After Santiago Calatrava's design for the Athens Stadium roof this year, architecture fans are already looking forward to the next Olympiad. The designs are quite something; a seemingly random latticework and a block of 'solid water' (and of course our old friends Arup are involved, naturally). They will be quite something, I think.
4:31 pm
Simon
The Maneki Neko is the little waving cat you see in some oriental shops and restaurants. Well, I thought he was waving, in fact he's beckoning. Here are some sites that explain more.
10:14 am
Simon
Dubai has been transformed since His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan took over from his father running the country. The previous link shows some of his vision for the area, but what's staggering is comparing the modern city-state with its recent incarnation as little more than a fishing port.
more than anything, Dubai is currently in the world's eye for its audacious attempts to create a network of man-made islands to increase its size. Dubai has recently been known for an explosion of building; I've been reading up on the projects and the architecture.
12:05 pm
Simon
There's lots of different names for this subject, but I chose the two above because I'm pretentious. Why is it only the ruins of lost civilisations and past times that people go to visit? This is a look at the exploration of disused, abandoned and decaying urban or man-made landscapes. There are far more links on this one than any of the previous 'fascinate' posts, so I'd suggest limiting yourself to the bold links unless this really piques your interest as it has mine.
There are many tangental interests in this one; some enjoy old municipal buildings, others military sites, I quite like tube stations- enough for that to be a post in itself later. I can't post every link I have, but I've tried to include some of every style to show the range of interest. I'm not sure where the fascination lies- I find 20th Century history, design, culture, etc. interesting because these semi-forgotten things were so recently part of our everyday experience, and I suppose Urban Speleology interests me in the same way; it's the little things that were never noticed in day-to-day life, and are rarely noticed now they're gone.
More people try to explain the hobby.
1:22 pm
Simon
Few passengers who pass though St Pancras station stop to think why the station itself is so huge. Those who do may remember that it was built after Kings Cross by a rival company back before privatisation, and so may attribute the grand styling to a case of oneupmanship. What I had not realised was that the actual building I think of as St Pancras was actually the Midland Grand Hotel, and its size and styling were actually developed independently of the station to which it is attached.
2:06 pm
Simon
Had to be, really, didn't it?
1:46 pm
Simon
As I said I would in the Paper Planes section below, here finally is my Origami section.
Traditionalists would say that glue and scissors should have no part in Origami, but modern designs allow for very attractive models.
Also known as computational origami, origami sekkei is the mathmatical study of the possibilities of paper folding. It allows for increadably complex and intracate designs.
11:10 am
Simon
Donald Duck screaming "Heil Hitler!" in his very own, very specific voice? It's not a spoof. Although sort-of kinda hushed up, Disney have now allowed some of their propoganda cartoons to be released for modern viewers. Warner still remain very tight lipped about their fairly racist portrayals of the Japanese in the past.
Remember: Pay your taxes to defeat the Axis! And what do taxes buy? Guns!
I've got digital copies of the following cartoons; if anyone wants a view, let me know.
10:57 am
Simon
Inevitably links are often made between artist and their child muses in a sexual, paedophilic context. One of the most well known of these was Carroll. It has been said that he had an unhealthy fascination with one of his photography models, a girl called Alice. His stories written to entertain her and her sisters are well known, but less is known either about the girl herself or why Carroll and the Liddells fell out suddenly, and speculation on the reason has been rife.
As many people know, all royalties for productions of Peter Pan (and that includes the films) go to the Great Ormond Street Hospital. Although the copyright ran out in 1987, Parliament actually made a statute law to keep it in perpetuity. However Emily Somma, an author who used the characters from 'Peter Pan and Wendy' in a book she wrote to help children deal with growing up.
Her lawyers have brought a case against GOSH in the US on the basis that although that law exists in the UK, it does not apply elsewhere and as such the characters are in the public domain. Normally I'm against copyright extension, but: they're a hospital for sick children, for crying out loud!
2:02 pm
Simon
"The Union Flag shall be azure, the Crosses saltires of St Andrew and St Patrick, quarterly per saltire counterchanged argent and gules: the latter fimbriated of the second, surmounted by the Cross of St George of the third fimbriated as the saltire."
This is just flags in general, but I couldn't pass it up;
3:07 pm
Simon
I'm worried about the new ID cards. Not the thought of carrying one per se, more the scope for it to go wrong in so many new and interesting ways. Read the first bold link for a succinct reason behind my problems with the technology, and the second for my fears about the concept.
5:07 pm
Simon
I was looking into trade marks when I stumbled upon the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys' website. On this there is a list of trademarkable things; I found it fascinating to find that it is possible to trademark a specific colour. With that in mind, I wanted to look into how specific the shade would need to be, but got sidetracked into the definition of colour in itself.
Update: 13th August: The recent announcement by EasyGroup that they planned to move into the mobile phone biz brought me back onto the original topic. Can you 'own' a colour?
With this in mind, EasyGroup's attitude towards Orange considering they both use Pantone #151 is a bit rich when you look at what they do to people who dare to put 'easy' in front of their name...
3:30 pm
Simon
and also, the real reason you might be interested...
Finally, something only tangentially related:
11:28 am
Simon
I was going to put this into some sort of chronological order, but I've decided I can't be bothered. These are all the posts I've made regarding Dasani in recent weeks in one compact, easy to ignore serving. Enjoy.
This was not Coke's most infamous blunder, of course. Almost 19 years ago (round about the launch of Back to the Future in cinemas) Coke took a bold step and changed the recipe for their flagship product.
It didn't go down very well.
2:58 pm
Simon
With films such as Dawn of the Dead and Shaun of the Dead coming out there is a growing public awareness that it's never too late to be prepared for zombie attacks. Unless you've been eaten by zombies, I guess.
Wouldn't you feel silly if you didn't read these, and then this happened to you?
Alternatively, you could just cash in on them instead.
Oh, and it's not really related, but it's my favourite zombie-like film: 28 Days Later.
9:26 am
Simon
I'm working on the proposed New Town just outside Cambridge, Longstanton-Oakington, now to be called Northstowe.
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4:00 pm
Simon
Could it happen again? What drives people to cover up obvious injustices? A teacher tried a week-long experiment into the psychology of fascism that could have gone very wrong.
11:16 pm
Simon
The meme of memes has been around for a while (1976 to be exact), and is one that has influenced me before. I suppose if this is a concept that you subscribe to then my mental antibodies must be rubbish! I've chosen now to post this concept however because Cecil at the Straight Dope makes some interesting points on the concept of memes and whether they negate the need for a 'mind'.
5:41 pm
Simon
It sometimes seems that every company in existence has some pressure group against it somewhere.
Amazon, American Goods, Bennetton, BP, Danone, Esso, Gillette, Google, Israeli Goods, KFC, McDonalds, Microsoft, Nike, RIAA (Recording Industry), Shell, Taco Bell, Just about everything...
Problem is, most of these operate under many different bands- Danone for example also trade as Jacobs, Lu, Lea & Perrins and HP in the UK. How do you make sure you're supporting the ones held for issues you feel are the right ones and not the stupid ones?
10:56 am
Simon
Maskelyne was a stage magician in Britain in the 30s. Coming from a dynasty of magicians, during the war Maskelyne realised that his skills in misdirection and illusion- and the other five effects of magic (or was it 18? Or 3?)could be put to practical use in fooling and concealing equipment from the Germans. More than likely to become a bit more famous soon when he will be the focus of a biographic film, War Magician (2004), where he's being played by Tom Cruise.
5:40 pm
Simon
According to one of those links, Jido means automatic, hanbai means vending, and ki is machine. (Cigarette vending machine would be "tobacco no jido-hanbaiki"; one for beverages would be nomimono jido-hanbaiki). Japan has a vending machine for every 23 people, and they sell a huge variety of things...
1:28 pm
Simon
The Anglo-French exhibition was organised to commemorate the Entente Cordiale, of which 2004 is its centenary year. A New shopping centre, travel hub and key workers housing complex is to be built on the site of the old exhibition, now more commonly known as White City in Shepherds Bush. (Location Map, Proposed Layout)
11:04 pm
Simon
There are stations, tunnels, entire networks of metro train systems worldwide that have been forgotten, lost beneath the streets. These are some sites that catalogue a few of them.
A plan to extend the Northern line that was almost finished but then abandoned.
These are not abandoned and have no real connection here except that they are about the tube and I wanted to link to them somehow.
3:22 pm
Simon
The Mazda RX-8 looks fantastic. The styling is in Mazda's new house style, which I do like although I'm still unsure about the rear lightbanks. The technology is very intreguing however; Mazda believe they've cracked it this time with their new RENESIS rotary engine. What this has to do with toys I'm not sure. I dunno if this is a CG version of a real (or soon-to-be-real) toy, but Mazda have an animation of their fantastic RX-8 as an Autobot Transformer.
Although it is great- does anyone know why?
Getting back on track, they also have a very interesting couple of sites on the history of the Wankel rotary engine and the problems faced in making it work. I've also included a Howstuffworks listing for the Wankel rotary.
11:06 pm
Simon
George took me to learn me some culture this weekend, and en route we took in some fantastic photography at the Natural History Museum. These were:
3:07 pm
Simon
You know Clipit, the annoying paperclip that guides you through writing a letter in MS Office? It wasn't Microsoft's first attempt at a partonising hand-holding guide. MS Bob was there first.
